Top Chinese celebrity: Debuted from Running Man

……

……

"My name is Xu Tailang, and I am a top rally driver. While driving my dad through a high-speed race, we were rear-ended by a speeding train as we were jumping over an intersection."

"Bang—!!!!"

A deafening roar, indescribable in its intensity, a mixture of twisting metal, shattering glass, and a tremendous impact.

The blue race car, like a toy casually swatted away by a giant, tumbled and deformed in the air, its parts flying everywhere.

Finally, it crashed heavily onto the open ground in the distance, turning into a twisted pile of metal ruins emitting black smoke and sparks.

Before me was a swaying, blurry ceiling, and the smell of disinfectant was pungent.

Xu Tailang felt as if he were lying on a mobile hospital bed, with the hurried footsteps of medical staff and the beeping of medical instruments in his ears.

"Is my dad dead...?"

"Ha...I really am a...filial and good son..."

Consciousness is like a rock falling into the deep sea, constantly sinking.

Before plunging into complete darkness, the most important moments of my life flashed before my eyes uncontrollably, frame by frame, like old film reels.

Cold iron fence.

Behind the fence, a handsome young man in prison clothes stretched out an arm through the bars, holding a baby bottle in his hand. His face wore an awkward, forced smile of loving kindness: "Son, take a sip, and you'll stop crying."

That was the first and only clear image of his "father" in his childhood memories.

This man's father, Xu Zhengtai, had been imprisoned before he was born for manslaughter caused by so-called "brotherhood."

His mother, Zhang Suzhen, committed suicide by jumping off a building shortly after giving birth to him due to postpartum depression.

All that remained was a framed photograph with an obscured face.

I loved playing with toy cars since I was little, but my dad thought it was a waste of my potential.

When I failed a test in elementary school, my dad would kick me in the face.

He secretly skipped school to watch racing, and when his dad found out, he kicked him in the face.

“My dad always complains that I didn’t inherit his good looks when he was young, but I think if he hadn’t kicked me in the face so often, I would have been even more handsome than him!”

Ah Lang's unwavering confession.

The screen continues to flip.

I had a girlfriend in high school, but she cheated on me.

Seeking solace, I went to a karaoke bar to drown my sorrows, where I met a girl who worked as a hostess.

That night, the little rascal turned into a big rascal.

He also grew from a boy into a man.

Shortly after,
He dropped out of school and officially became a race car driver.

As a result, he drove into a ditch on his first test drive and was ruthlessly dismissed by the team.

Later, my dad found me a job driving an ambulance, but I crashed on my first mission.

"Perhaps my life is so bleak that even God can't stand it anymore, and thinks it's too miserable and boring."

The voice-over carries a sense of resignation, "So, he decided... to give me a different script."

……

【Time Travel·1998】

"Squeak-"

A dull creak as an old-fashioned hinged door pivot turned.

When his vision returned, 'Xu Tailang' stood blankly at the entrance of a shabby dance hall where a disco ball was spinning and playing "The Breakup Frontline Alliance".

He looked down at his gaudy, reflective printed shirt, his ridiculously tight cropped trousers, and his shiny but tacky black leather shoes.

All around, men and women wearing wide-leg pants and bell-bottoms rode by on old-fashioned bicycles, their bells jingling. A music store on the street was playing Ren Xianqi's "Too Softhearted" loudly.

A strong, pungent scent, typical of the late 1990s, mingled with dust, cheap perfume, and passionate dreams, wafted over me.

"What...what did I do with this?"

Deng Chao blinked, his face filled with disbelief and utter bewilderment. "I...time-traveled?!"

He wandered aimlessly through the equally unfamiliar streets, looking at the faded banners that read "Welcome the 98 Asian Games" and "First Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Motherland," feeling as if he were in an absurd dream.

Just then, a familiar figure came into view.

A middle-aged female teacher wearing red-rimmed glasses, carrying teaching aids and several hot roasted sweet potatoes, walked briskly.

"Teacher Chen?!"

Deng Chao's eyes lit up, and he excitedly rushed forward, stopping the other person in his tracks.

"Which student's parent are you?"

Teacher Chen was startled by the sudden appearance of this strangely dressed, ardent-eyed, weathered old man. She adjusted her glasses and looked at him with suspicion.

"Me! Xu Tailang from Class 2, Grade 04!"

Deng Chao excitedly patted Teacher Chen's shoulder, as if seeing a long-lost relative. "Teacher Chen, don't you remember me? When we were in elementary school, you always hugged me and said, 'You're so reckless! You can't be so reckless in the future!'"

"level 04?"

Teacher Chen seemed to have heard something unbelievable. She forcefully pushed his hand away, looked at him as if he were mentally ill, and walked away quickly while turning back to warn him, "It's only 98, you're crazy!"

"98? I really...time-traveled?!"

Deng Chao stood rooted to the spot, as if struck by lightning, repeatedly pondering this unbelievable fact.
His face was a mixture of shock, bewilderment, and a hint of excitement that even he himself didn't realize.
He turned into a dimly lit alley, still looking down at his "retro fashion" outfit, trying to sort things out.

"Thief! Thief! He stole my bag!!" A woman's shrill cry suddenly came from the alley entrance.

Then,

A figure, panting heavily and running frantically past Deng Chao, clutching a woman's handbag in her hand.

"stop!"

Almost instinctively, Deng Chao was overwhelmed with a sense of justice. He shouted and took off after them.

After several turns, at the end of a dead-end alley filled with clutter, Deng Chao finally cornered the panting robber.

He got into position, ready to put on a good show of "heroic act to subdue the criminal".

"Shh-"

A cold light flashed.

Once the robber had caught his breath, he pulled out a switchblade from his waist, pointed the tip at Deng Chao, and looked at him fiercely.

Deng Chao's "righteous indignation" froze instantly. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned around decisively and walked away.

"Can't afford to mess with them, safety first..."

He muttered to himself, trying to comfort himself.

But after taking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped, slapped his forehead, and his genius student mode activated.

"Wait a minute, I've already transmigrated, why would I be afraid of dying?"

Thinking of this, Deng Chao felt a surge of heroic spirit. He suddenly turned around, glared angrily at the knife-wielding robber, and even puffed out his chest to meet him: "Come on! Stab me here! Anyone who dodges is a coward!"

The robber was taken aback by his sudden "suicide pact," but seeing the other man approaching, he instinctively slashed at him with his knife!

It's too late, it's faster than that!

"Beep beep—!!!"

A blinding beam of a motorcycle's high beam tore through the dim alley like a sword.
Accompanied by the urgent honking of a horn, an old-fashioned motorcycle rushed over at a near-out-of-control speed, scaring Deng Chao and the robber in the alley into utter panic, and they quickly pressed their backs against the wall.

The motorcycle performed a dangerous drift and came to a stop sideways in the middle of the road, kicking up dust.

A figure gracefully crouched down, his arms outstretched like wings.

Wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet, a slightly tight denim jacket and jeans, and most strikingly, a long black cape draped over his back.

He had a large machete hanging from each side of his waist.

"Holy crap...a ​​rural Batman?"

Deng Chao stared in astonishment, mouth agape, at the strange guest who had seemingly fallen from the sky.

"Wow—"

The man tossed the cloak behind him in what he thought was a very cool pose.

The robber snapped out of his daze. Although he found the newcomer strange, he nervously pointed his switchblade at him: "Who...who are you? Mind your own business!"

A disdainful smile seemed to curl at the corners of Gu Qing's mouth beneath his mask.

He slowly reached his hands towards his waist.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Two crisp metallic scraping sounds.

He pulled out two gleaming, exaggeratedly long machetes, each a meter long, with their tips pointing diagonally at the ground, displaying a very imposing stance.

The robber glanced at the two gleaming, large weapons, then at the small switchblade in his hand, and his lips twitched.
He wisely threw the knife away and raised his hands:

"Dude, this isn't fair... isn't it? If you've got the guts, let's have a one-on-one fight!"

"Row!"

A muffled, yet deliberately deep voice came from beneath the mask, "A one-on-one fight it is!"

After all,

He actually threw the two machetes on the ground with two loud clangs.

"Is this person mentally unstable?"

Deng Chao watched in stunned silence.

The robbers, devoid of any martial ethics, seized the opportunity and suddenly bent down to grab the machete from the ground!

"Watch out!" Deng Chao exclaimed.

The robbers had already grabbed a machete, and without saying a word, they swung it at the unarmed "Xu Zhengtai".

At the critical moment,
Deng Chao, not knowing where the courage came from, suddenly pounced on the robber from behind and grabbed him tightly around the waist.

"Oh!"

Almost simultaneously, Gu Qing also reacted, raising her foot and delivering a solid front kick to the robber's chest.

The robber was quite strong. He grunted and, along with Deng Chao who was holding him from behind, they both fell backward like tumbling gourds.

Gu Qing immediately pounced on him, snatched the machete and threw it far away, then frantically began to unbuckle his belt, trying to tie the robber's hands.

Deng Chao also rolled over and got up. Seeing this, he followed suit and quickly took out his belt to tie up the robber's kicking feet.

Two people, one massaging hands, the other massaging feet.
After a lot of work in the alley, they finally tied the robber up like a makeshift dumpling, leaving them panting heavily.

"Hu-hu-"

Gu Qing then took off the stuffy helmet and mask, revealing his handsome face wet with sweat, and the flowing center-parted bangs that were typical of that era.

He breathed a sigh of relief and looked down to see that his denim jacket had been ripped open, and a trace of red was seeping through his white T-shirt.

"The clothes I just bought..."

He muttered to himself, still shaken.

When he looked up at the "helpful citizen" who had just helped him, he was met with a pair of wide-open eyes filled with extreme shock, as if he had seen a ghost.

Deng Chao's pupils dilated, his mouth opened unconsciously, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he stared intently at Gu Qing's young and handsome face.

That face... he knew it all too well!

Not through a photograph, but... but from the depths of memory, the blurry figure handing a baby bottle through the iron fence instantly overlapped with the vivid face before me!

Time seemed to stand still.

Only the robbers' unwilling groans remained in the alley.

next second.

Deng Chao gasped sharply, and with all his might, let out a thunderous shout filled with disbelief and absurdity:

"dad--!!!"

"what?"

Gu Qing was completely stunned by his shout, and the expression on her face changed from relief at surviving the disaster to surprise and bewilderment.

The two men looked at each other, their trousers, no longer bound by belts, falling down at the same time.

Deng Chao pursed his lips, while Gu Qing pressed down on the corners of his mouth.

"laugh--"

Someone couldn't help but let out a soft whisper.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the two of them turned their faces away at the same time, and their shoulders began to heave violently.

"Pfft... Hahaha!!" "Pfft—Hehehe!!"

The suppressed, strange laughter grew louder and louder, eventually evolving into uncontrollable maniacal laughter.

"Don't laugh, say your lines!"

"Can you try to keep a straight face for now?"

Deng Chao rubbed his face, Gu Qing pulled up his pants, and they blamed each other.

"Crack! Haha...cough cough!"

Han Han, behind the monitor, couldn't stop smiling.
After a great deal of effort, I managed to steady my voice. "The first part was very emotionally engaging."

"It's that part later... the part where they burst out laughing, the ending was rushed. Let's do one take, then film the whole process from their initial awkward silence to bursting into laughter again, paying attention to the rhythm, and making sure the timing of their pants slipping down is even more precise!"

"Huh? We have to start all over again?"

Deng Chaosheng, utterly dejected, glared angrily at Gu Qing, "You brat, you just want to hear 'Dad' a few more times to take advantage of me, don't you?!"

"Brother Chao, I swear to God."

Gu Qing hurriedly bent down to untie the belt tied around the extra's wrist. He said speechlessly, "Who wants to take advantage of you? Every time you call out 'Dad,' it sounds like you're going to the execution ground. How can I not laugh?"

"Brother Chao, you're supposed to be an award-winning actor, can't you be a little more professional? You're such a laughing idiot!"

"You boy!"

Old Deng gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and as Gu Qing stood up, he suddenly reached out and pulled him down by the waist.

"His-"

Gu Qing felt a chill in her lower body; the pants she had just pulled up slipped down to her ankles again, and the cold wind from the film set whistled past her thighs.

"Deng Chao!!!"

Gu Qing's face instantly turned bright red, and she heard the entire crew erupting in uncontrollable, thunderous laughter.

Filled with shame and indignation, he yanked out the belt he had just fastened, as if to lash it out.

"How childish of you! How old are you! Still playing this game!"

"Hehehe~ Come on, come on! You draw!"

Seeing that he was really "annoyed", Deng Chao became even more energetic, twisted his buttocks, made a face, and turned to run away.

But he forgot that his own belt was still on the extra's feet.

So, Deng Chao took two steps, tripped, and stepped on his own trouser leg.

"thump--!"

A standard, full-body fall on flat ground.

As he fell, his pants betrayed him completely, slipping down to reveal a pair of lounge pants with a cartoon print.

"Snapped!"

Gu Qinghua, disguised as a farm owner, lashed out with a whip without hesitation.

A crisp (but not painful) sound. Gu Qing's belt gently landed on Deng Chao's...buttocks.

"Ouch~!!"

Deng Chao immediately let out an extremely exaggerated scream, like a pig being slaughtered.

"Hahaha--!!!"

Throughout the entire film set, from the cinematographer to the lighting technician, from the makeup artist to the crew, even the usually composed Mr. Jin Shijie couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.

Zhao Liying had already squatted on the ground, clutching her stomach, laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't even speak.

"Hehe, these two are such a handful... really, when a playboy meets a cute boy, he can't be serious at all."

Han Han put his glasses back on and watched the joyful scenes playing on the monitor, a smile spreading across his face. This was exactly the atmosphere he wanted.

"I can't take it anymore... Director Han, let me catch my breath..."

Zhao Liying finally stopped laughing, rubbing her sore cheeks, "How can they be so funny... They must joke around like this in private too."

From the very first important scene between the two leads, the atmosphere on set was set by the "father and son" duo of Gu Qing and Deng Chao, creating a joyful, harmonious, and creative atmosphere.

This is undoubtedly the best possible condition.

As for the actors, Deng Chao's award-winning acting skills are beyond doubt. He portrayed the awkwardness, shock, gradual acceptance and attempt to understand his father's complex mentality of stuffing the middle-aged Xu Tailang's soul into a young body with distinct layers.

Although young, Gu Qing possesses solid acting skills, perfectly capturing the self-righteous "heroic spirit" and youthful, immature passion of the young Xu Zhengtai, a typical small-town youth.

The character's kindness and naivety hidden beneath her exaggerated behavior are captured precisely, creating a wonderful chemistry with Deng Chao.

Zhao Liying's scenes come later, but her charm and the tacit understanding she has already developed with Gu Qing make people look forward to the later "couple" scenes.

It can be said,
The three lead actors' acting skills are more than enough for this light comedy, enough to easily surpass many of their peers who only have popularity.

The supporting cast, including Jin Shijie and Zhang Benyu, was carefully selected, ensuring that every shot was full of quality and credibility.

Under Han Han's control and the actors' professional performances, the entire filming process proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

The so-called "difficulty" is often not a problem of acting skills, but rather, like what just happened, bursting into laughter.

For a comedy to make the actors involved laugh repeatedly is precisely a testament to the vividness and humor of the script and performances.

Once everyone has laughed enough and released their emotions, they often get it right in one take, with excellent results.

Han Han experienced a smoothness he had never felt before in his career.

His daily work is more like appreciating a group of masters working together in perfect harmony to create an interesting work of art. He only needs to grasp the overall rhythm and artistic direction; the actors can handle the details and the sparks of inspiration on their own.

He even felt that his directing skills were made "superior" by the excellent collaborators he worked with.

The laughter of the past few days seemed to have deepened the wrinkles around his eyes—from laughing.

Time flies when you're focused and enjoying your work. In the blink of an eye, two weeks of filming have passed, and everything is going smoothly and getting better and better.

On what seemed like an ordinary day of filming, just as a scene ended and Han Han shouted, "Cut, this take is great, get ready to move to another location,"

An unexpected "big event" struck on set, affecting Gu Qing, who was just immersed in her role.

"Boss! Boss! Something terrible has happened!!"

Zhao Ya's face turned deathly pale. After pulling Gu Qing aside, her voice trembled with extreme panic, even sounding like she was about to cry.

"Sister Xiaoya, calm down and speak slowly. The sky isn't going to fall."

Gu Qing's heart skipped a beat at her appearance, but she maintained her composure. "What happened?"

"The boss is the company! The company!!"

Zhao Ya gasped for breath, her words tumbling out incoherently, "The company...the company ran away!!"

"what?"

Gu Qing didn't react for a moment, thinking she had misheard. "Sister Xiaoya, please explain clearly, what do you mean by 'the company ran away'? Ran away? Where did it go?"

"It means exactly what it says, boss!"

Zhao Ya said in a panic, "The company's legal representative and several core executives have all run away! They've vanished into thin air!"

I even tried calling Sister Li, but I couldn't get through; her phone was always off!
The internet...the internet is exploding! This is all the trending topics!

Zhao Ya frantically pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and handed it directly to Gu Qing.

On the screen, several alarming terms were prominently displayed at the top of the social media trending topics list:

#Gu Qing's agency is suspected of being deregistered#
#Xingyao Culture's Legal Representative Missing#
#Another defaulter in the entertainment industry: Has Gu Qing's company absconded with funds?#
#Warning of a building collapse in Guqing?#
Each entry is followed by a dark red "爆" (explosive) character.

"These marketing accounts..."

Gu Qing took the phone, quickly swiped the screen, and browsed related news reports and online discussions.

The content is largely the same: it has been revealed that the "Xingyao Culture" agency he signed with has quietly completed a simplified deregistration process several days ago.

The company's core personnel, including the actual controller and his relatives, have all left the country and are suspected of fleeing overseas.

Currently,

The company is under investigation by relevant authorities for multiple contract disputes and debt issues, and its legal representative has been listed as a dishonest person subject to enforcement, commonly known as a "debt defaulter".

As the company's most famous and commercially valuable artist, Gu Qing's name was repeatedly mentioned, and the comment section was filled with various speculations, concerns, ridicule, and even gloating.

"Snapped."

Gu Qing reached out and tapped Zhao Ya on the forehead.

"Ouch!"

Zhao Ya covered her forehead.

"Why are you panicking?"

Gu Qing returned the phone to her, his expression quickly shifting from initial surprise to a strange sense of relief.

I even felt a little amused:

"What does it have to do with you and me, two law-abiding citizens who pay taxes on time and in full, that the company boss ran away with his mistress and became a defaulter?"

"Huh?" Zhao Ya was stunned, her mind not quite processing it.

"We...are free!"

Gu Qing really didn't expect this.

Under immense pressure from the "grain replenishment campaign," and facing back taxes and fines amounting to hundreds of millions,

His former boss and executives did not choose to sell their assets or mortgage their properties, nor did they choose to honestly accept the punishment and cut their losses to survive.

Instead, they resolutely chose the most "thorough" path.

Take what you can, deregister the company, and go overseas to become a "runner" (a derogatory term for someone who takes advantage of others' wealth).
Gu Qing was unsure whether to marvel at how audacious and ambitious these people were, or to "admire" their "wild imagination."

Think about it too,

now,

The web of Western liberalism has not yet been broken, and for these wealthy people, it remains a pilgrimage site.

A share of 100 million is a significant sum no matter where you look.

Instead of making those guys who deserve to be hanged on streetlights pay the money, they might as well grit their teeth and go to a lawless place to become a corrupt official.

As for the mess they left behind, the partners who were cheated, and the future of their artists? Those were not within their consideration.

They probably wish something would happen to Gu Qing.

“But boss, what about those comments online… and what about our contracts? What about the work ahead…” Zhao Ya was still worried.

"The contract? The company is gone, the entity has been deregistered, so the brokerage contract is naturally just a piece of paper and has been automatically terminated."

Gu Qing had a clear train of thought.

He took out his phone and logged directly into the official social media account, which was almost entirely managed by the team.

Ignoring the flood of private messages and mentions, he found the most popular trending topic: company deregistration.
After a moment's thought, I quickly typed a tweet and clicked send.

"I was filming and I was slacking off by checking my phone... and... my house is gone?! [shocked face.jpg]"

After posting the tweet, Gu Qing put away his phone and said to Zhao Ya, who was still in a daze, "Go tell Director Han that I have some urgent personal matters to attend to and need to take two days off."

The production schedule is tight, so my scenes can be filmed later in a concentrated shoot.

After giving his instructions, he turned around to remove his makeup and change his clothes.
At the same time, my brain has already started working at high speed, thinking about the various possibilities and follow-up arrangements brought about by this sudden "freedom".

He just made a move,
On the other side, Deng Chao and Zhao Liying, who had also stumbled upon the explosive news during their break, had already changed their expressions drastically and rushed over.

"Brother! What's going on? Is what's being said online true? Your company..." Deng Chao asked with concern, his brows furrowed.

"Little brother, are you alright? Were you affected? Do you need any help?"

Zhao Liying was even more anxious, holding Gu Qing's hand and looking him up and down, as if she was afraid that he had suffered a great blow.

Seeing their genuine concern, Gu Qing felt a warmth in her heart. She smiled and waved her hand, briefly explaining the situation and emphasizing that she was fine and that the contract's automatic termination was actually a "good thing."

After hearing his explanation, Deng Chao and Zhao Liying both breathed a sigh of relief, but their expressions immediately became quite interesting.

"Good heavens, this is unbelievable."

Watching Gu Qing's departing figure as he got into the car, Old Deng scratched his head and exclaimed, "In all my years in the industry, this is the first time I've ever seen an entire management company run away like this."

"Wouldn't that make me a free man?"

"Brother Chao, why doesn't our company learn from this?"

Zhao Liying said enviously.

"Liying, you'd better take it easy. How can you say something like that?"

Deng Chao was startled, but then couldn't help but sigh:

"However, could I really be a reincarnation of a lucky koi fish?"
How can I be so lucky?!

"After filming one scene, the company went bankrupt. That's incredible!"

……

...(End of chapter)